Shaking your fist at the time shift this past weekend? Does springing forward and falling back give you a headache and throw off your sleep schedule? You’re not alone in opposing that pesky time change.
In fact, from its inception, daylight savings had a strange opponent: evangelical Christians.
Turn Back Time
The idea of daylight savings time can be traced back to a satirical essay from Benjamin Franklin in 1784, cheekily proposed as a cost-saving measure on candle use for the citizens of Paris. But Franklin proposed the idea as a joke, and never suggested turning the clocks to align with daylight hours, despite popular belief that he “invented” daylight savings time. His “proposal” was to “let cannons be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually.”
No, it’s an insect-obsessed Kiwi that we truly have to thank – or blame. The real roots of daylight savings time can be traced to New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, who in 1895 suggested advancing clocks by two hours so that, it is rumored, he would have more daylight to examine his insects.
Daylight savings was first observed in Germany in 1916 during World War I to conserve fuel, and much of the world followed in their footsteps. Much of Europe adopted DST the following year, and the United States adopted daylight savings in 1918 with the Standard Time Act.
The timing wasn’t great. The date it was implemented - March 31, 1918 - was Easter Sunday. Pandemonium ensued at many churches across the country as parishioners arrived in droves, some early, some late, many of them unsure what the time actually was. And the situation was not made clearer by the fact that some churches, in an effort not to confuse their congregation, waited until noon to change their clocks, instead of springing forward overnight.
It was such an issue that the National Daylight Savings Association encouraged churches to “ring their bells more lustily than usual” so that the masses knew exactly when to go to church.
Reportedly, many enjoyed the extra hour of sunlight in the evening, despite the initial confusion.
But from the start, some evangelicals were against changing the clocks, arguing that doing so was nothing less than a violation of “God’s time.”
Are We Violating "God’s Time"?
“Repeal the law and have the clocks proclaim God’s time and tell the truth!” bellowed Mississippi representative Ezekiel Candler in a lively debate on whether to keep daylight savings after the war ended. He ultimately won out; Congress repealed the law and then overrode President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, ending daylight savings... until it was re-adopted in 1966.
The “God’s time” argument was a common refrain amongst those who opposed DST at the time, and it was not a new argument. The same pitch was made in opposition to the standardization of time zones in the United States all the way back in 1883. The creation of time zones in the United States was proposed by the railway industry, but some evangelicals weren’t buying it. As Carlene Stephens, curator at the National Museum of American History, says, evangelicals believed that “time came from God and railroads were not to mess with it.”
Although federally abolished, many states and municipalities kept DST in various forms, leading to, again, confusion as to what the time actually was. God’s time vs. rail time became a major issue. As one Indiana preacher recalled, “half my congregation favors daylight time, and the other half, standard time. When should I open my church?”
In 1966 the Uniform Time Act largely put an end to these headaches, standardizing time zones and making DST the law of the land. Most of the country observes daylight savings, and the arguments that we are upsetting God every time we spring forward or fall back are largely nonexistent today.
And while they might be the most vocal, evangelicals don't stand alone on this issue. Followers of Judaism and Islam have also objected to the policy, arguing that it heavily disrupts their prayer schedules that are subject to the sun and daylight hours.
Still, whether you’re for the time change or against the time change, perhaps there’s one thing we can all agree on: That Ben Franklin’s idea to shoot cannons in the street to wake up the masses is a much, much worse idea.
[Update 3/16/22]: Yesterday, the United States Senate passed a bill that would enact permanent daylight savings time across the country. That bill now heads to the House for a vote. If approved, it would land on President Biden's desk for signature.
37 comments
-
Charles Jude Platt
Anything that "evangicals" are for, I am certainly against. I like the evangicals, bit not their insane beliefs. More sunshine helps me and others to overcome depression.
-
David Arthur Lewis
Evangelicals take offense at the most trivial things.
-
Minister William Jackson
Personally I think daylight savings time is a waste of "time" quote unquote is was of course back in long time ago and I've herd of For farming and war time .as some states stopped it so I think keep it where it is at .be it back are forward . Stop this crazy time changing.
-
Aqilah Jackson
We are really doing this…?
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Well, we needed something to do, Aqilah. Then again, I woke up an hour ago, and haven't had my first cup of coffee yet. So y'all hold down the fort, until I get back, at whatever o'clock.
-
-
Matthew Mastrogiovanni
God's time? What does God care about time?
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Cuckoo, cuckoo!
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Well, we needed something to do, Aqilah. Then again, I woke up an hour ago, and haven't had my first cup of coffee yet. So y'all hold down the fort, until I get back, at whatever o'clock.
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
One of my other wall clocks plays Westminster Chimes every hour, and I really like hearing that tune, although I usually don't pay any attention to it, or it would drive me crazy! The chime shuts off between midnight and six a.m., so I'm glad we have time to tell, even though I'm about ready to strangle that cuckoo bird, if it would just stay out of that clock long enough for me to grab it. I'm hoping that with DST I can fool it into thinking it's midnight when it's 1:00 a.m., which should confuse it, and cause it to short circuit. Then I'll never have to hear it again, unless it resets itself.
-
-
-
Tabitha
Even if you buy into the whole xtian god nonsense, per the bible, god made the heavens, earth, man, etc; including the day from darkness. Nowhere in that nonsense does it say that god came down and taught watchmakers how to build clocks. That’s a human thing. Sheep will follow anything spouted by an idiot in a robe claiming bullcrap
-
Daniel Gray
You mean like you are trying to do now?
-
Rev Mark D
Sorry, I don't understand... How do sheep even know what time it is?
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Maybe she meant to say sheeple. I've heard of that colloquial term, as it could apply to this.
-
-
-
Rev. Elizabeth
YAAAYYYY!! IT IS ABOUT TIME! If I have a choice, I choose the current daylight savings time. It is great for winter time and no more traveling to work and to home in the dark. I would go outside at my lunch and have a picnic and even just relax, some. I always traveled to work and home from work in the dark. If I still had young children I would vote for Standard Time. We all had to adapt for both; we can adapt for one. I don't care what is chosen as long as we can stop.
God Bless, be safe, be well. Rev. Elizabeth S. Arsenault
-
Brien
Not a fan of daylight savings time at all. I think it should be abolished as whatever it was it stood for is now no longer needed. If the religious zealots can make it happen I'm all for it abolish daylight savings time.
-
pjm
"Are We Violating "God’s Time?" That is one of the most inane, ridiculous questions I've heard in a long time. Good grief, it implies a profound ignorance of both astronomy and the Bible.
-
Timothy Holland Sr
God has set order for times places and things, so we as human beings can’t mess with what he has already ordained.
-
Rev Mark D
Can you say how do we come up with that idea?
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
In a 🐖's eye, Timothy!
-
-
Nicholas J Page
DST has nothing to do with time clocks being put back and forward.Humans don't dictate day light or night light.We can't alter the fact this is God's work Leave the time pieces aloneThis has been a debate here in the UK For many years.Only God alters time not Mankind.
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Nicholas, it's not day or night light, but daylight and night darkness. Nightlights are things we plug into electrical outlets, usually on a wall, that were definitely created by humans.
-
-
JR KAY MINISTRIES
To the Indiana Preacher:
Dear Minister, keep GOD's Time to open your church in order to keep everybody satisfied. At the end of the day, God's time is the best, isn't it!
-
Lionheart
Did you have a particular mythical God you are referring to?
🦁❤️
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Since the passage of time is only an illusion of this dimension I can't imagine how it makes any difference to any god.
-
-
Val Jester
There are left and right decisions and up and down decisions. The left and right decisions have no moral consequences and are merely decisions we make each day. Up and down decisions have moral and spiritual consequences and require prayer to arrive at a proper decision. Daylight savings time is a left or right decision.
-
Rev Mark D
What about in and out decisions, and forward and back decisions?
-
-
Daniel Gray
Ok now this is just a stupid thing to even try and write something about. I dont care how you adjust the clocks you still only have 24 hours in a day! You have one doctor down in Alabama, who is constantly late to the hospital he works at. Why? because where he lives his city is on Eastern Daylight Savings time. yet 30 miles away at the hospital where he works its inside CENTRAL daylight time. Why cause all the confusion? just get rid of the daylight savings plan and be done with it.
-
Rev Mark D
Can somebody, some mathematician or physicist or somebody, explain to me what actual difference it makes? Everything that seems to change in one end is given back at the other. There is the same number of hours of sunlight, the same number of hours of darkness. Anytime spent using less power for light is given back on the other end when there is the same again more time of dark that needs power for light, etc. So it's our own schedules that are shifting, not god's, not the universe. What am I missing?
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I live on Galveston Island, fifty miles south of Houston, in the Gulf of Mexico, and can't imagine anyone not wanting to spend an extra hour at the beach! Almost everyone leaves the beach when it gets dark. Personally, changing the time never made any sense to me, and I've always preferred it getting dark later in the day. Ofcourse, I haven't owned a car since 1991, and ride a bicycle everyplace I go. It's much safer to ride in daylight, and I usually stay home at night.
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
All I know about that Val.is "What goes up must come down. Spinning wheels got to be round". So, are you riding a painted pony? It sounds like it.
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Well Mark, there aren't as m as my game Ood TV shows to w a tch at dawn as there is at dusk, and more people are at home (or wherever) watching TV around eight or nine p.m. during primetime, than at the other end, when most people are waking up.
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
That damn poltergeist spell checker screwed up something else I was trying to say. I can't see why they call them spell checkers, since all they ever do is screw up what I've written. We must never forget to proof read what we write on these phones.
-
-
Carl Bernard Elfstrom
I think they just threw this in there so we'd lighten up. Too many of our fellow ministers seemed to be taking things too seriously.
-
Lady Celynia
Just pick one and stick with it all the time.
-
Kerry Ann Michel
Mr Elfstrom,
I'm new to all this, but starting to notice recurring names on the comments, one of which is yours.
Please don't suggest that the responders "just pick one and stick with it all the time" - in one simple, sensible post you'll have ruined the "God creates Time" argument, decisions that move in opposite directions, doctors who come to work late (would you let this man remove your tonsils?) etc etc!!
Oh my! I'd lose my hour or so of dipping in to the responses and pondering upon the fact that the people who type them are permitted to vote 🤢 The horror! The horror!
-
Kerry Ann Michel
Mr Elfstrom,
I'm new to all this, but starting to notice recurring names on the comments, one of which is yours.
Please don't suggest that the responders "just pick one and stick with it all the time" - in one simple, sensible post you'll have ruined the "God creates Time" argument, decisions that move in opposite directions demonstration, doctors who come to work late because of an imaginary line (would you let this man remove your tonsils?) etc etc!!
Oh my! I'd lose my hour or so of dipping in to the responses and pondering upon the fact that the people who type them are permitted to vote 🤢
The horror! The horror!
Maintaining Daylight Savings Time year-round would certainly help prevent depression, it has been found. (just read in NYT.) It is also a safety issue when sunset is at 4:15 in wintertime. And not going back and forth is certainly better for health. God doesn't have anything to do with our timekeeping, of course. So I am a fan of permanent Daylight Savings Time.